Dear Jessica Biel....

Dear Jessica Biel,

I know that you will never read this but I felt it was a very deserving post to write in your honour. I would also like to say that for the record, I very rarely dedicate posts to anyone so by just knowing that, one must understand that this is a pretty big deal. So Jessica Biel, I dedicate about 2% of this post to you and the other 98% to your ass.

I do not mean to sound crass because I have the utmost respect for the full 100% of you, so please let me explain.

Many years ago when I was just starting to learn about my love of fitness, there is that struggle that everyone goes through when you're just starting to build up your stamina. You grunt and groan and sweat like a fiend, never feeling like you're getting anywhere. I remember jogging on the treadmill, barely able to jog longer than a couple minutes at a time and in my head I would repeat, "Just keep swimming! Just keep swimming!" meanwhile maintaining an internal giggle at the stupidity of my inner mantra. But it kept me jogging and soon I could go longer and I just kept pushing myself to last another 1, 2 or 5 minutes. I just kept swimming.

Then a few years ago I saw a movie called "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" and my mantra took a dramatic turn. There is a scene in the film in which you strip down to just your bra and underwear and the audience gets several good looks at your physique. Obviously you're friggin' gorgeous in every sense of the word, but your ass is what changed it all for me.

I am lucky enough to live in a beautiful province full of hills and mountains, all of them just waiting for me to conquer. Every time that I am walking, hiking, jogging or biking up any kind of hill or mountain trail, my inner mantra is (and has been for the past 7 years),

 "Jessica Biel's ass. Jessica Biel's ass."

Every uphill battle is my time to work and strive for a butt that even slightly resembles the one that you are carrying around with you. Every time I stand there on the trail, my hands on my hips and my laboured breathing nearly drowning out my will to keep going, I just think,

"Jessica Biel's ass"

and I am always able to work up the energy to run that hill and continue my journey along the well worn trail.

Now I am absolutely not some crazy fan or a fitness fiend who obsesses about having the perfect body. I am not striving for skinny or perfection and I know that I will never grace the cover of any kind of magazine. Hell, I only just got the courage to wear a bikini in public last year! I also know that I will never have a butt as nice as yours because, well, genetics wasn't as kind to me from the get-go. I also know that you work hard to look the way that you do and that ass was not a mistake. I applaud you for making the decision to take care of yourself and for being a fantastic role models for girls and women around the world. You're not a bean pole or frighteningly scrawny female trying to fill out her size 0 jeans. You're strong and healthy and have curves to be proud of.

So I thank you for being a lovely curvy role-model and to have an ass that other people (at least 1 person) strives to have someday. Keep up the good work and I will keep trying to get there too.

Sincerely,

- Adrienne

Miles and Hiking

On Tuesday I jumped a plane from Victoria to Castlegar to go visit the family for 6 days. For the record, flying home is SO MUCH BETTER than driving. Including driving to and from airports, time at the airport and time in the air, flying shaves off about 9 hours of travel time each way. An 18 hour travel time difference is a pretty huge deal. I am a fan.

My sister gave birth to my new little nephew Miles on the 18th (he's so cute!!!) so I very much needed to get back to Trail to meet him and see how everyone was doing. Getting to meet Miles on my birthday was a great present, so thanks Pam for having such good timing! The family all came over the house on Tuesday for a birthday BBQ in the backyard, complete with delicious bison burgers and a fresh bucket of slush! MMmmmmm MMmmm.

Here is some proof that Miles is the cutie that I claim him to be.

My heterolifepartner and her husband took me out to dinner on Thursday night. We always end up at The Flying Steamshovel up in Rossland, and I am not complaining. The food is always great and the atmosphere is casual and welcoming. What I love about that place is that they are always changing up the menu with fresh seasonal ingredients, so every time that I am there I can taste something new. I highly recommend the deep fried risotto (YUM!) and the cilantro lime salad dressing. Plus I am always there with Sarah so the conversation is always completely hilarious and Mike always drives home so we can get a bit goofy.

One thing I love to do and try to take full advantage of when I am here is go for nice long walks/hikes. Since my sister just had the baby and is she nothing but a feeding/burping/wiping/washing machine at this point, my dad has been going over with Axel and taking her 2 dogs for walks in the morning. One less thing for her to have to think about in the morning. So myself, dad, Axel, Splash and Sophie have kind of been our own pack the last few days.

The first morning we were out at Birchbank with the dogs, enjoying the cooler weather and letting the dogs swim in the river. At one point all three dogs went flying into the bush (we figured after a squirrel) and didn't think anything of it. A minute or so later they call came barreling out of the bush with a 4th "dog" chasing in the rear. All we saw was a beigy/yellow creature chasing them through the bush and it was gone before we had a chance to get a good look. We figured that another dog walker was on the other side of the island and had also lost control over his dog. Again, we didn't think much of it until we heard a howling on the other side of us, across the lagoon. I said to dad, "that sounds like a coyote," and sure enough it was. It seems that they were working in a pair to lure our dogs over to the other side of the lagoon for an attack, but when coyote #1 realized that there were 3 dogs and 2 humans on the other side, the plan was instantly derailed. There's no way 2 coyotes could handle the situation they were planning. Even though the dogs were slightly riled up and agitated by it all, they didn't wander off and listened when we told them to stick close.

Friday morning dad and I did the Red Mountain Red Top trail which is one of my personal favourites. It's not a hard hike but I like it because it doesn't take super long (2 hours round-trip with a break at the top), smells good, has a couple water spots for the dogs and there is a chance of scoring huckleberries at the top! Unfortunately the huckleberry situation was a bit sad because of the lack of rain that the area has gotten over the summer, so the berries were small and not really worth the time to pick. But the view from the top is always highly enjoyable.

This morning we decided to hike an area that neither of us had ever been to before. The hiking in Castlegar is an untapped resource for us and we really don't know why we have never ventured to that area before. Rossland just always seems to be the logical choice when we think of hiking. Why never Castlegar? So I researched the area last night and we decided to try the Brilliant Overlook Trail which is a 6 km round-trip hike with an intermediate/advanced difficulty rating. I must admit that I really enjoyed the hike a lot! It was quite steep in some places and we were definitely in a flop sweat by the time we reached the top. There were several areas on the way up which gave us views of the 3 valleys surrounding the mountain. I questioned the reasoning for the handrails along some spots of the trail, but they made perfect sense on the way down!

Axel ate a dead crow. It was disgusting. I am going to have nightmares for days about the sound of him crunching on bones and those nasty feet dangling out of his mouth as he chowed down as quickly as possible. Dogs are gross.

On the way back down we had another wildlife experience! For the 100th time on the hike, the dogs went flying through the bush to chase (what we figured) to be another squirrel. Splash is completely neurotic about squirrels and chases them every single time she spots or hears one. So as I mentioned, the dogs all ran up the bank in pursuit of a "squirrel". Dad and I kept on walking along the trail, again not thinking anything about it. We heard them crashing down the bank, much more loudly than normal, so I stopped and turned to watch them come down. First I saw Sophie break through the greenery, with a slightly panicked look on her face. Next came Axel, barking like a wildman. Next came a bear.

Yup, a bear.

"Oh shit, there's a bear," said me.

Lastly came Splash, who somehow got around the bear in an attempt to flee the scene. The bear started chasing the dogs until it saw me and dad, then it stopped in it's tracks. Splash and Sophie hid in the front of us while the bear turned and started coming back towards us again. Axel lunged at it, barking wildly and holding his ground, so the bear turned around and headed back into the bush. Our hero!!! Blue heelers are brave little dogs with little fear, so we were both happy to have him with us. Way to go buddy!!

Scaredy Cat

Last week I decided to head out and go on a hike up Goldstream Park. When I got to the park, there was a sign saying that there was a cougar in the area and that all hikers should travel in packs and stay on trails. I hesitated when I saw the sign because I really wanted to hike, but I also didn't want to become a statistic. Eventually I decided that since it was a Friday morning in the middle of July, that there would be lots of hikers/tourists on the trails making noise and screwing up any cougar stalk and kill plans.

So I headed up the mountain expecting another great hike, but after a couple kilometres, my heart was beating frantically from the sound of every leaf and twig that rustled from the wind. Every twist and turn on the trail I was expecting a cougar to jump off from a cliff and rip my face off. I started having vivid flask backs of every single news story that I had seen covering stories about joggers who were mauled by a cougar while enjoying their favourite running trails. Normally I don't care if there are animal sightings in the area, but it isn't very often that the sighting is a massive predatory carnivore. Bears are a common sighting and don't bother me, but the thought of being prey to a cougar eventually got to me, so I turned around and high tailed it out of there before there was a story about me on the 6 o'clock news.

This afternoon I headed back over the the park to take another attempt of a hike. Luckily the cougar warnings were lifted and I felt a bit better heading up the mountain with my camera in tow. It's strange how much one little fluorescent sign warning me of a cougar in the area could mess with my head so much. Realistically, I could get clobbered by a large wild cat any time that I go hiking, but that one sign saying that a cougar had actually been seen (when they are unseen every single day but that doesn't mean that they aren't there) made me not want to risk the risk that I take every time I head out.

Every time that I do this hike, I fall in love with it just a little bit more and all of the beauty it beholds.

There are bridges.

And narrow pathways with hand railings located above steep embankments

Mine shafts.

Waterfalls.

Railways trestles.

And lots of bits of information in random places.

What I really love about this trail is that it messes with your head. Right when you think you're at the end and get to head back down the mountain, the trail will swoop in another direction and keep you moving away from your end goal (the giant water bottle waiting in the car at the bottom). All you want is to just reach the bottom, but the trail has another idea for you instead. Keep on trekkin because the view is awesome.

Hiking Around Goldstream

I have a very strange sense of curiosity. In some ways, I am the most incurious person and will accept what I am told, no questions asked.

Them - “Adrienne, the world is round.”

Me – “Cool.”

Chris thought this was a very odd trait to have because he is such an inquisitive person who cannot rest until he has researched every fact and idea that comes his way, whereas I just accept these things and move on.  There are billions and billions of questions in this world and I do not have the longevity to research everything, so I have to pick my battles when it comes to finding answers to my questions.

On the flip side of this, my personality will do a complete 180 and be incredibly curious when it comes to the outdoors. I have written posts about this problem in the past, but when I am outside hiking on an unfamiliar trail, my inquiring mind cannot rest as to where I am going. I have to know what goes where, and what will that trail lead to or if I branch off in that direction, what will I find? As soon as I am ready to turn around and head back, I will see a trail heading off in another direction and my curiosity becomes slightly overwhelmed and I just have to see where it leads to. Today is another perfect example of this.

I live very close to Goldstream Provincial Park which has a lot of hiking trails winding and twisting all throughout the mountain and area. Since the weather finally got beautiful, I decided to head out there this morning and see what it had to offer. Before I ventured up the mountain, I had a plan in mind of which trail(s) I wanted to take and I planned at least a good hour of hiking……

Three hours later I returned to my car.

I couldn’t help it! You should see it up there. The trails just keep meandering in and out of the forest and it’s just so gorgeous and peaceful and majestic! How can one simply just turn around and go home when there are miles and miles of mysterious trails to investigate? At one point I was walking along the old rail bed when I thought, “Ok, if I don’t see anything interesting after this upcoming bend, I will turn around.” But once I got around the bend, I saw a trail heading into the bush which was just the beginning of my plans getting disrupted. Then I heard water falling, which just perked my interest even more. Then about 10 minutes later I found the waterfall and my heart leapt into my throat because it was so stunning that it took my breath away.

The east coast is a gorgeous area to see and I am thankful that I got to experience its beauty. The smell of the ocean, bright green pastures, endless beaches and amazing red sand is definitely something that should be experienced by anyone who has the opportunity. But when I am in the mountains in BC, I am always completely overwhelmed with the beauty around me. The smell of moist earth, moss, cedar trees, fresh water and just the whole alpine wilderness around me, is easily one of my favourite things in the entire world. Yes, even the skunk cabbage brings a smile to my face because it is just another part of the whole experience.

But the absolute best part of the hike was when I was climbing into this one area on the Arbutus Ridge, and I began to hear frogs croaking. As I climbed higher and higher into the area, the sound of them became louder and louder and it soon became all that I could hear. As the trail leveled out, I found a swampy area just packed full of chirping frogs and I wish I could have recorded the noise they produced because it was just remarkable. I crouched down to watch them and as I did this, it was as though someone had hit mute because they all became dead silent when they realized my presence. I laughed and walked away from the area, only to hear them slowly begin again as I got further and further from the area. How can one not smile like a fool in a moment like that? 

Parents Visit!

I am a totally terrible daughter for not blogging about this yet, but my parents were here last weekend and it was great having them in Victoria with me! They were awesome enough to pack up some the essentials that I had to leave behind in Trail (such as my summer tires) and drive it over the mountains through some crazy snowy weather and onto the island. Trying to decide what to do while my parents were here was tough since I am new to the area myself and have yet to discover my own personal favourite features to show people who are visiting. I knew that they wouldn't want to be spending a bunch of money on going out to eat, so I wanted to find some places that were new to me, but had great local reviews.

Then I thought to myself, where is a place that I gotta eat? Then my brain went into corny tourist mode and I hit the internet to see if "You Gotta Eat Here" or "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" have ever gone to any local places that I would be interested in trying out. We decided to try John's Place which is a tiny local restaurant on Pandora Ave that is famous for its scratch cooking and homestyle menu (with many twists to make it not like what momma used to make). I had the Salsa Chorizo Benny, served on the amazing cornbread with a monster bowl of fruit on the side, and moaned in delight with every bite. The coffee wasn't very good, but my plate of food made up for that. I don't think mom and dad enjoyed their meal as much as I did mine, but I'd definitely go again to try many other things on the menu that peaked my interest. I really wanted the Ragin' Vegan Burrito but it was sold out, so I'll have to get it next time.

The second place we went to a couple nights later was Bin 4, which is another locally owned restaurant that specializes in burgers that are made with local ingredients, no hormones and good quality meats. I've been wanting to go to this place since I heard about it, since they have 2 kinds of lamb burgers, and I love me a lamb burger. I had the "My Big Fat Greek Burger" and it was really tasty! Not as tasty as the one from the Wooden Monkey in Halifax which I would step over my own sister to have again (kidding! kidding!), but still a good choice for anyone who likes lamb in the form of a burger.

See my dad, who LOVES burgers and I don't know of anyone who appreciates a burger as much as him, said that his burger at Bin 4 was in the top 3 burgers that he has ever eaten. Now. That's pretty huge. I don't remember the name of the specific burger that he got and it was a daily special so it's not on the regular menu, but this information about my dad alone should tempt you to try this place out.

While the folks were here, dad and I did a few good walks/hikes. One of them was up Mount Finlayson which is up by Bear Mountain, which is the area where they were staying while here. We've hiked some pretty good sized mountains, and this one is not big at all (just shy of 1400ft), so we figured it would be no big deal at all to climb one morning. Didn't research it, didn't look into it too much, just got up early Sunday morning, got into some walking gear and headed up. We didn't start at the point of the trail that most people take, so we missed this sign,

And this sign too,

And ended up climbing a pretty scary and trecherous trail. Like, I'm talking skinny scary pathways, steep and slippery rock faces, fallen tree, exposed roots to trip over, lose stones paths and areas where we would completely lose the trail and have to wader around looking for the way to go (orange markers on the rocks) without falling off the edge of the mountain.

All in all, it only took a little over an hour and a half to do the round trip which isn't all that long at all, plus we stopped to take bunch of photos, but the incline and grade of that trail was not at all what we were expecting. From the bottom, it really didn't look like much at all. Never judge a mountain by it's cover people!